Irish women on track to be second most obese in Europe

A new health report has shown that by 2025, Ireland will have the second-highest levels of obese women in Europe at 37 per cent, just one per cent behind the UK.

The Lancet’s study also showed similar trends in men with both the UK and Ireland showing the greatest proportion, with 38 per cent, followed by Lithuania at 36 per cent.

Meanwhile, the number of obese people worldwide has risen from 105 million in 1975 to 641 million in 2014, and by 2025 they predict that 43 per cent of American women and 45 per cent of American men are will be obese.

The research shows that since 1975 the proportion of obese men has increased more than threefold (3.2pc to 10.8pc), and the proportion of obese women has more than doubled (6.4pc to 14.9pc).

Comparatively, the proportion of underweight people fell by around a third in both men (13.8pc to 8.8pc) and women (14.6pc to 9.7pc).

Almost a fifth of the world’s obese adults (118 million) live in just six countries: Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, UK, and USA.

However, the research shows that excessively low body weight remains a serious issue in the world’s poorest regions; in south Asia, almost a quarter of the population are underweight, and in central and east Africa levels of underweight still remain higher than 12 per cent in women and 15 per cent in men.